The War for Her
by jkluver-aaf
Summary: Harry and Draco actually have something in common these days. Disturbing dreams about a certain someone neither of them wish to be having. Find out who when you read The War for Her.
1. Sweet Dreams

**Love or Lust?**

**Chapter 1:Sweet Dreams**

_ I do not own Harry Potter or it's characters I owe it all to one brilliant J.K. Rowling. but the plot is all mine. All mine._

It was another night of restless sleep and the 17-year old boy known as Harry Potter was tossing and turning in his bed at Number Four Privet Drive.

With an agonized gasp, Harry sat bolt upright in his bed.

_Not again!_ He thought to himself. _And I thought dreams of Voldemort were agonizing._

Harry crossed up his legs Indian style resting his elbows on his legs and his face in his palms.

_Why Hermione of all the girls at Hogwarts? She's my best friend and I can't just ignore the feelings I know Ron has for her either._

Harry had been having vivid dreams of one of his two best friends, the infamous Hermione Granger. There was no doubt that she was a remarkable girl, but Harry had always known her as his friend. That is until a few weeks ago. How could he have never noticed the growing attraction building up stronger and stronger within his sub-conscious?

_Right, there has to be some rational explanation for this ridiculous infatuation!_ He thought it over carefully. He had known her for 6 years, soon to be 7 years. He could still recall the bossy little 11-year old asking he and Ron if they had seen a toad; a toad they would soon find was called Trevor and owned by a clumsy young boy by the name of Neville Longbottom. He smiled at the fond memory. But for some odd reason his attention was brought back to that bossy little brunette.

_Gah! Stop thinking about her!_

Little did Harry know that at that very moment another young man was contemplating the very same thing; however unlikely it would seem.

Draco Malfoy sat up in his king size four poster bed drenched in cold sweat. He took deep calming breaths as he looked up at his own enchanted ceiling. He could see the planets up close this way, each one slowly passing over the canopy of his bed. At times he felt the planets had a very effective calming of his nerves.

_Filthy, wretched mudblood!_ He found himself reciting these words in his head quite often as he tried desperately to cleanse his tainted dreams._ I'm sure Father could get rid of her for me._ But the more he thought about it the more he realized he could never tell his father anything like this. It would be a disgrace even mentioning such a name in the Malfoy manor.

_Why can I not stop thinking about her? She is below me! Filthy, wretched mudblood._ Again he tried to change his image of the young Miss Granger, but to no avail. She was high-strung and brilliant. What ate at him the most was the way she could so easily ignore every insult he spat at her.

_Why can't I have these dreams about Pansy Parkinson? Father wouldn't be shamed for me admit to dreams about her. But no, it has to be Granger! And I thought the beaverlike teeth would help. She must have fooled Madam Pomfrey into perfecting them._

He stopped mentally complaining long enough to envision Hermione's now radiant smile.

_No!_ Draco smacked the side of his head. He closed his eyes and waited for the momentary pain to subside. He felt so drowsy he decided to Hell with worrying about his dreams. He might as well enjoy them if he couldn't rid himself of them. He readjusted his pillow and drifted quietly off to sleep welcoming the images of himself tearing off the robes of one Hermione Granger.

It had been a whole week since the night Draco decided to stop trying to will away his attraction for Granger. He was now breaking the seal of his annual Hogwarts letter.

_Mr. Malfoy,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you are this year's Head Boy. You will receive your own headquarters residing next to those of our Head Girl. You will find your new badge enclosed in the envelope._

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

Draco reached into the envelope and gently retrieved a badge with the letters HB inscribed on the face along with an active serpent weaving its way in between them.

"Draco, why so quiet?" Lucius Malfoy asked hidden behind the Daily Prophet.

"Oh, nothing. I've just been notified that I'll be Head Boy this year."

Lucius lowered the paper long enough to give his son a smug grin before returning to his paper. "I expected nothing less of you, boy. Nothing less."

That was all the encouragement Draco knew he was going to get so he decided to take one last swig of pumpkin juice before taking the Hogwarts letter back to his room.

Draco waved his hand for the door to close and lock behind him as reviewed that letter one last time. In the process of moving over to his wingback chair he passed his reflection in his full-length mirror. He tried desperately to ignore the glower it was now giving him.

"You're anticipating it aren't you?" His reflection accused in a menacing voice.

"Anticipating what?" Draco answered monotonously.

"Her!"

Draco looked up abruptly from his letter to glare at his own reflection.

"You can't possibly be inferring that mudblood, Granger!"

"Oh, don't you play coy with me. You honestly believe I don't hear you moaning her name in your sleep?"

Draco grimaced. His cheeks reddened, as he looked himself in the eyes. "It's not my fault. Maybe she decided to purchase a love potion?"

"And what makes you think she would even be having half the feelings you have for her."

"What? I don't have feelings for Hermione! That's just ridiculous."

"Didn't you notice? You just addressed her by her first name. That sounds like a lot more than just a sexual attraction." The reflection blurred slightly as the individual persona vanished and Draco was left with his regular reflection.

_Oh no. What if I really do have feelings for her?_

**So this is my first fanfiction after years of reading and reviewing. Now it's your turn. The more brutal you are the more I can do to make this even better. Ok, tell me... Is it too long too short, too anything? I want to know exactly what my readers need. Feel free to review.**


	2. The Train

**The Train**

Draco wasn't thinking about his parents as they waved goodbye to him. All he could think about was getting to see that one girl. And yet he hated himself all the more for wanting to see her.

_I wonder who the new head girl is going to be. _And that's when it hit him. _Of course! How could I be so dense? We'll be sharing headquarters. It has to be her._ He never knew he could feel two emotions so strongly at once. On one hand he was in nervous anticipation that Hermione could be the Head Girl but on the other hand…

As much as he hated to admit, his built in reflection back home had a point. He was beginning to get used to the idea of addressing Granger by her first name. That was going to have to change. There could be no detection of his new feelings. He had to remain the Draco Malfoy every non-Slytherin knew and hated.

Draco strode up to the top car where he and the head girl would inform all the prefects of their duties. He waltzed into the car sliding the door back as carelessly as he could convincingly manage.

"You're late, Malfoy." The cold voice was indeed Her-…Granger's. But instead of the cold retaliation he could usually dish out instantaneously he felt an involuntary rise below his belt line.

Draco quickly adjusted his new robes as he cleared his throat trying his absolute best to be nonchalant.

"Sorry Muh-_No, too harsh_ (ahem) Granger."

Hermione hurumphed and crossed her arms.

"Shall we get on with it, then?"

Draco scoffed as he glanced at the eight prefects before him. The two from his own house smirked as they looked from him to Granger.

"Why don't you do it then? Since you seem to know everything."

Hermione glowered at him and Draco felt a sudden flip within his stomach. Was that guilt or attraction to that dangerous looking expression on her face?

"Well all, to begin with, you're in charge of getting your first years to their new common room and making sure that they all know their password, got it?"

_She looked so sexy when she was being bossy._

"I've decided we're going to have a meeting once a- Malfoy, can I help you with something?"

"Huh, what?" Draco just realized he had been staring at Granger and felt a newfound pang of guilt at not hiding his shameful attraction.

"What are you looking at?" Granger asked with a raised brow.

"Oh, nothing Granger. I was just trying to keep from dozing off. You know you really do talk too much. You could just get to the point. Tell them what they need to know and be done with it."

"All right then, Malfoy, would you like to conduct this speech?" She seemed thoroughly surprised when Draco straightened himself up and moved in front of the prefects.

"We're going to meet once a month which will be the first Monday. Tell your brats where to go and what the password is and make sure to keep them in line. All right, that's it. Get out."

Six of the eight prefects looked at Draco scornfully as they left the car. The two Slytherins gave Draco a snide nod and left behind the rest.

Draco turned to look at Granger.

"And that's how to do that." He shrugged his shoulders.

Granger gave an exasperated sigh before she left the small car herself no doubt heading back to the car that would contain Weasley and Potter.

Harry's heart flipped as Hermione slid back the door violently. She was even more beautiful when she was angry.

"I don't believe him!" Hermione huffed as she almost sat on her ginger cat. Crookshanks leapt up reproachfully glaring behind him at his mistress. "Sorry, Crookshanks."

"I'm assuming Malfoy made Headboy, then?" Ron asked consolingly.

"Yeah, and you know what he had the nerve to do?"

Harry and Ron leaned forward to listen politely. "He made a fool of me in front of all the prefects! I am their superior, and now they're going to have no respect for me whatsoever."

"Exactly what did he say?" Harry asked wanting to know every detail before he pummeled Malfoy to a pulp.

"He called me a bore and then showed me up on that speech to the prefects. The only ones who really looked impressed were his fellow Slytherins though." Hermione tilted her head and thought the whole thing over.

"Well I guess that wasn't too bad then." Harry said as he patted Hermione on the shoulder. Ron gave him a sideways look. "What?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders and didn't say a word to Harry for the rest of the train ride. Meanwhile…

Draco sat with his arm draped around Pansy Parkinson as Crabbe and Goyle sniggered to themselves.

"So Draco, how was your summer?"

Draco suddenly remembered his argument with his reflection and all the dreams of a certain high-strung Griffindor.

"Er-it was fine. How was your, Pansy?" Draco said eager to escape from his thoughts of a promiscuous Hermione Granger.

"Oh it was lovely, Draco. But it would have been so much better if you had been there."

_Oh, great. Pansy's hitting on me and I have no desire for her whatsoever._

"That's nice. Crabbe, Goyle, what are you two sniggering at?"

The two of them looked up stupidly and then shrugged. The truth of the matter was they had heard about Draco's little episode in front of Granger and were laughing their arses off at the prospect of their Draco Malfoy crushing on the mudblood he'd hated for years.

Draco couldn't take it. He had to get up and get some air. As he stood Crabbe and Goyle made to follow him but he gestured for them to stay seated. He just wanted to be alone for a little while. He needed to think.

_I'm going to be sharing headquarters with Hermione Granger. I should ask Father for an invisibility cloak. No, no, he might get suspicious. What to do? What to do._

It wasn't long before he found himself passing by the car from which he saw a disgruntled looking Weasley, a thoughtful Herm-Granger, and a wistful Potter.

_She looks so beautiful when she's in such deep thought. Agh!_ Draco smacked himself in the side of the head. _Stop thinking about her that way!_

He was trying hard to concentrate on getting Granger out of his head and nearly missed the fact of the compartment door being slid open.

"What is it, Malfoy? Have we got trouble makers already?" Granger looked thoroughly disgruntled.

"N-no. I'm still just doing rounds, Granger. Go back to your compartment, you'll be fine." Draco was hardly aware of the words that had just left his mouth.

"Well of course, I'll be fine. Malfoy what in Merlin are you going on about?"

"What? Nothing. None of business, Granger. Just get back to your compartment. The very sight of you is making me nauseous."

Granger glared before she stepped back into the compartment and slammed the door shut behind her, hence braking the glass panel. Before she could turn to rectify the damage she had just caused Draco muttered the spell, _Reparo_, under his breath and the glass was returned good as new.

As Draco walked off, both Harry and Ron stood up scowling, readying themselves by taking out their wands and moving towards the compartment door.

"No!" Hermione said firmly. "He's a Head and you can't win by getting yourself in trouble before school has even begun, so do me a favor and sit back down."

The two boys sat down at her word both knowing that if they didn't Hermione would be the one dishing out detentions and such.

_What to do? What to do? Why do I feel so guilty for reprimanding that disgusting mudblood? Insulting her doesn't seem to be helping much either. Why can't I be attracted to Pansy? She's a much better choice. At least by Slytherin standards._

Draco had been walking at a quick pace down the rest of the length of the corridor glancing momentarily into each compartment as he passed. Before long he reached the very end of the train and looked absent mindedly out the little window in the door he was now standing in front of. He watched track after track as it passed behind the train. He actually wanted to be in the compartment with Potter, Granger, and yes, even Weasley.

He couldn't believe the treachery now coursing through his brain. His father would be mortified. He gave up silently and decided it would be best for him to return to the compartment with Pansy, Vincent, and Gregory. When he turned around he came face to face with Pansy, herself.

"Are you alright, Draco? I wondered where you had disappeared to."

Pansy was a beautiful girl in her own way. Her jet-black hair formed in a bob just below her ears. Her slim, amazing figure she never failed to show off with robes two sizes too tight, but just the right length. She had a beautiful set of pearly white teeth and tantalizing eyes that seemed to bore straight into the soul. And yet his mind flickered back to wavy haired brunette with an amazing right hook.

"Draco? Are you sure you're alright?" She took his hand. "Maybe you need a little tender-loving-care", she said between kissing first the back of his hand, then his neck, and last running her teeth along his earlobe."

"Yeah, maybe later, Pansy. I really should be getting back to my compartment." With that he pushed past her and began walking swiftly down the corridor.

"Who is she, Draco? Who could possibly be more tantalizing and devoted than me?"

Draco stopped dead in his tracks, turned and stared directly into Pansy's eyes.


End file.
